November 26, 2024 • 49 mins
Meet Dana Wrubel, a remarkable advocate who turned her personal challenges with food allergies into a powerful platform for change. Through the creation of the magazine and podcast Just Allergy Things by teens, for teens, Dana is empowering others to navigate food allergy anxiety and build resilience. She shares her journey of navigating high school, transitioning to college, and setting ambitious goals for the future. Tune in to hear how Dana is amplifying teen voices and paving the way for greater understanding and support in the allergy community.
FARE's Teen Advisory Group - FoodAllergy.org
Camp Blue Spruce – Creating connection & community for kids with food allergies
www.justallergythings.com
Special thanks to Kyle Dine for permission to use his song The Doghouse for the podcast theme!
www.kyledine.com
Find Dr. Whitehouse:
-thefoodallergypsychologist.com
-Instagram: @thefoodallergypsychologist
-Facebook: Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, Food Allergy Anxiety Psychologist
-welcome@dramandawhitehouse.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:00):
Welcome to the Don't Feed the Fear podcast, where we
dive into the complex world offood allergy anxiety.
I'm your host, Dr.
Amanda Whitehouse, food allergyanxiety psychologist and food
allergy mom.
Whether you're dealing withallergies yourself or supporting
someone who is, join us for anempathetic and informative
journey toward food allergy calmand confidence.
(00:22):
Today on the podcast, I'm reallyexcited to bring you another
amazing advocate.
This time, a teenager who'saccomplished so much already in
the years that she's begunworking on this cause.
As a teenager, Dana Rubel hadthe idea to begin a magazine for
teens, written by teens, aboutallergies.
And she named it just AllergyThings.
(00:43):
That expanded into a podcast andnow a whole organization of
teens working together to createawareness and provide support
for each other.
Dana's now a sophomore incollege She was kind enough to
sit down with me and take thetime to talk about starting this
organization in order toadvocate for herself and her
peers, and to share a little bitabout her adjustment through her
(01:03):
teenage years and into collegelife.
Dana, thank you so much forbeing here to talk.
Dana (01:08):
Yes, of course.
Dr. Whitehouse (01:09):
Will you, tell people just a little bit about
you?
You have so much that I want toshare about where should we
start in terms of peopleunderstanding how you got into,
food allergy, advocacy and allthe projects you have on your
table.
Dana (01:23):
I'm Dana I'm currently 19 years old going into my
sophomore year of college, and Iwas diagnosed with a Life
threatening food allergies whenI was one so I've had food
allergies essentially my wholelife, and I don't really know
Anything different so I wasdiagnosed when my parents
decided to give me egg.
(01:43):
And immediately I reacted and Idon't, I don't know the
specifics cause I was one, but Iknow I reacted something GI I
think was hives and vomitingsomething.
And they took me immediately tothe pediatrician and I was super
lucky that the pediatricianimmediately said, let's get her
allergy tested.
so they did some blood work andthey found out I had all these
(02:04):
allergies.
that's sort of how it allstarted, and then, growing up,
that's all I really knew.
I had food allergies, and when Iwas younger, I didn't really
understand the implications verywell, because I guess, when
you're a kid, you don't reallyunderstand the complexities of,
of what's going on, but as I gotolder, I sort of realized how,
how serious it truly was.
So I started to be veryprecautious.
(02:26):
starting when I was about eight,I really consciously, tried to
keep myself safe and likewashing my hands before I eat
things like that.
I got into food allergy advocacywhen I was about.
I want to say 13, 14.
I got involved with FAIR and 13advisory group and all that.
And it was so amazing.
And I eventually started a FAIRtag project.
(02:46):
called Just Allergy Things,which I continue today.
And we've sort of branched outand become, sort of our own
entity in a way.
and we publish articles andpodcasts and I've truly enjoyed
my work for that.
And I started that my sophomoreyear of high school and it just
started as an idea.
And I was like, let me sign upto lead a tag project and start
this.
just has become something waybigger than I ever imagined
(03:09):
today.
And I'm really grateful that I,you know, was able to start that
and that I'm able to continueleading it.
So yeah, that's pretty muchwhere we are today.
Dr. Whitehouse (03:17):
That's great.
So getting involved with FAIRand TAG is the teen advisory
group, right?
and so then it sounds like theyencourage the teens who are
involved to come up with theirown projects and start an
initiative when you have anidea.
That's
Dana (03:31):
So essentially there's this master sheet, or at least
there was when I started whereyou could up to be part of a
project or early a project.
And it's sort of on your owninitiative.
so I had been in tag for acouple of years at that point, I
believe.
So I was like, You know what?
I would really, I would love tolead a tag project.
And I was just sort ofbrainstorming about things.
(03:52):
And, I was always interested inlike magazines and sort of
journalism, that type of thing.
And I was like, wouldn't it becool to start, a teen food
allergy magazine, and that'ssort of how it was born and I
just, came up with the name andthe idea.
had very few people startingoff, but eventually I was able
to recruit people.
And, and as the years went on,people were really excited to
just sign up and be a part of itand things like that.
(04:16):
It's it's been a greatexperience for sure.
Dr. Whitehouse (04:19):
how do you take on a project like that at such a
young age?
That seems like such a bigundertaking.
Dana (04:24):
I don't know.
I was just I always wanted to Todo something like that.
I guess I had no idea of thespecifics.
I went to a high school that waspretty Fairly competitive and
everyone wanted to do likeeveryone was doing amazing
things and I was like wow so Ireally wanted to start something
and I wanted to do something Iwas super passionate about and
it sort of just came out of thisidea of a passion project,
(04:47):
something I truly wanted to doto, to help people and that I
could, you know, feel good aboutdoing, and that's sort of how it
started and it just became thisthing that I do like for now, or
right now that I do, cause,cause I love it.
so it was really great comingout of high school.
It was definitely the thing Idid that I was most proud of and
that truly made me so happy.
(05:07):
So that was just so cool to, tobe able to have that experience.
Dr. Whitehouse (05:11):
That's amazing., so were, you said you were
interested in journalism.
Is that something that you were,considering for the future and
that you are hoping that youmight be getting into, or are
you headed down that road or hasit not really panned out that
specifically?
Dana (05:25):
at the moment, not so much.
I'm interested in economics.
I'm an economics major.
When I was, you know, in like aneighth grade, I did like the
school newspaper and I was superpassionate about that.
And I just really like, youknow, like writing that type of
thing.
I was always interested in likethe history fairs and the
science fairs and the literaryfairs when I was in middle
school.
So, that sort of writing aspect,sort of was always.
(05:48):
in me.
So I wanted to, to do somethingwith that.
And honestly, Justology thingshas transformed into an
organization that encompassesmuch other than just a magazine
side.
I've been able to, exploredifferent things other than,
writing, articles, that type ofjournalism, we've also done like
podcasting, which has been somuch fun.
I've definitely, that's sort ofa passion project of mine as
(06:09):
well.
And, and also just social media.
Now it's more so like managingan organization rather than just
magazine, which is really cool.
So it sort of started as likejournalism and then it sort of
morphed into just this broaderorganization.
Dr. Whitehouse (06:23):
That's how I found you was the podcast.
when I was doing some work formy own podcast and I, it has
been a struggle for me as agrown up adult to learn how to
do this.
And I was so impressed that assuch young kids, you pulled
together that, but, like yousaid, not just a podcast and a
magazine, but this wholeorganization, it seems like such
a good experience for you,carrying forward all that, those
(06:45):
different projects and business.
experiences that you had.
Dana (06:49):
Yeah, thank you.
The podcast, I honestly amsurprised that was able to do so
much at, at 15 because I lookback now and I was like, wow,
that actually took a lot of to,to figure out, just getting the
podcast and like differentstreaming platforms and learning
how to edit a podcast.
And, and things like that.
I never knew how to do.
(07:09):
So it was just a lot ofresearching and trial and error.
And I'm, I'm honestly surprisedmyself that I was able to do
that when I was 15, but I wasjust super passionate and I
wanted, I wanted to, so I didit.
Dr. Whitehouse (07:20):
Yeah.
You sound like you were verymotivated.
Did you have some help with it?
Dana (07:24):
at the beginning, no, no, it's just me.
At the beginning, eventually Iwas able to, to garner a
leadership team.
but at the beginning it was justme and I was trying to motivate
some, some other members to, towrite some articles for me and,
and that type of thing.
So yeah, it was, it was reallygreat just learning how to do
everything from the ground up.
So.
(07:45):
amazing.
Dr. Whitehouse (07:46):
Wow.
I'm, I'm totally amazed,especially, you know, the
quality of what you were puttingout.
you know, obviously your voicesounds young and you shared the
details about your age, but,it's really the, the podcast
episodes that I was able tolisten to are so helpful and
everything that I have seen thatyou've been doing.
Is such quality, content thatyou're putting out and I have to
say I'm biased as a, you know, Ilive in the food allergy world
(08:07):
as a food allergy mom, but I waslike, that makes sense that a
food allergy kiddo, like canpull something like this
together and, and be soindependent and, and
resourceful.
Do you think that's a point?
part of it or am I, am Ireaching with that?
Yeah.
And you
Dana (08:22):
in general has taught me a lot advocacy.
I remember like just hearingabout, a few weeks ago, someone
mentioning that it gives themanxiety to go up to like, You
know, if they join a new gym totalk to the person at the front
desk and ask for a day pass.
And that was really striking tome.
I'm like, wow, people do reallystruggle with things like that.
And I have no fear going up tosomeone random and just saying
(08:45):
like, Hey, I have these foodallergies.
Like, make sure you tell thechef.
Like every, the whole spiel, youknow, the food allergies spiel,
the classic.
Um, and that really translatesto, uh, Translates to every
facet of my life.
Um, and has really helped mejust talk to anyone about
anything, not just my foodallergy.
So that, yeah, that really hastranslated.
And I think that having foodallergies and cells, like a real
(09:07):
sense of resilience andindependence.
And I think that definitelycontributed to, to me starting
the magazine and executing it.
Dr. Whitehouse (09:15):
bring up a good point because I think sometimes,
we can talk more about it, butthere are some hard things about
having food allergies.
Right.
And I think we can forget that,In some ways we've learned
skills and it's made thingseasier or other people have
their own challenges.
It may be, like you said, maybethat person's just shy, but some
other people have anxiety aboutother things.
And I think we can forget like,Oh, that that's hard for them.
(09:37):
That wouldn't have occurred tome that that could be
challenging because it's sosimple for me.
I have to do that all the time.
Dana (09:43):
Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Whitehouse (09:45):
Going back to, that age when you first got
involved, can you talk to meabout what it was like for you
as a kid with allergies who thenwas introduced to this
organization that's advocatingand other kids?
I imagine there were so manyaspects of that that were
helpful for you.
As you were navigating your ownlife,
Dana (10:04):
Yeah, definitely.
It was really a transformativeexperience because I grew up
with being the only person in myclass, in my school with food
allergies.
So it was really, it was, youknow, really eye opening to me
that so many people have thesame, you know, struggles deal
with the same things day to day,and it was hard to grasp that
when I was younger because Ididn't see it.
(10:25):
being part of like the fair likecommunity and, you know, just
the broader food allergyadvocacy community.
I was able to connect withpeople and inform.
relationships, with, you know,my peers who have the same
issues, even though they wereat, different parts of the
country or even the world.
So it was really great.
And it was really, you know,it's a bonding experience
(10:47):
because you, you go through somuch with having food allergies.
I think that was really apositive aspect that I gained
from having food allergies wasjust the community.
Dr. Whitehouse (10:56):
what has been the hardest part of all the
things that you, that we do haveto navigate?
What's been the toughest foryou?
Dana (11:03):
I think it's just the uncertainty.
I.
I am lucky enough to never havehad anaphylaxis, never have had
to use my EpiPen.
So, I think the uncertainty ofjust going day to day, of not
knowing that looks like for me,is really scary.
in the news recently, I've seena lot of things about, you know,
Epinephrine not being 100percent effective or biphasic
(11:26):
reactions, which are likedelayed anaphylactic reactions,
which can result in fatalityhas, you know, it's really been
tough to have to deal with thoserealities.
And, just not having thoseanswers has been difficult.
so I would say that's definitelythe hardest, just the
uncertainty and understandingthe gravity of food allergies
(11:46):
that, if you have severe foodallergies, it has a Potential
being life threatening.
So that's definitely been thehardest.
Dr. Whitehouse (11:53):
Yeah.
I think those, those, extremeand rare, but you know,
obviously very scary stories areone of the hardest parts for all
of us to hear.
how do you kind of process thatwhen you hear something really
awful like that, that's happenedin the news?
Dana (12:07):
I just try to remind myself that, that, that tragic
situation doesn't necessarilyimpact me at this current
moment.
I've lived my life for 19 yearsin a certain way and, know,
learning about something sotragic doesn't necessarily have
to change anything for mepersonally.
Especially since I've been, solucky for the past 19 years to
(12:28):
not have had anaphylaxis oranything like that.
So I just try to myself that inthis present moment, nothing Is
actually gonna change justbecause I, I read something
that, that was tough to read.
So just, just reminding myselfthat, you know, while that's
tragic, and it's so sad thatthat happened for that person, I
can't control, I can't controlit, unfortunately, I can only
(12:48):
control the way I react to it,and, you know, I just choose to,
To stay present and just not letmy mind, you know, start
overthinking things and justremind myself to keep doing what
I'm doing because it's working Ialways have my medication and, I
have my allergist if I have anyquestions and I just try to
remind myself to, to just focuson what I can control and what I
can't.
Dr. Whitehouse (13:09):
I think that's a great point, especially what you
said about this.
It is awful.
It doesn't change anything forme specifically, right?
There's nothing for me to learnfrom this in terms of I was
doing this wrong or I made thismistake.
It's, it's, it doesn't changehow you need to go about your
day to day life.
can you talk about thatuncertainty that you mentioned?
(13:29):
Can you just talk about theimpact of that on your
wellbeing, on your mental andemotional state?
As you've been growing up,
Dana (13:38):
Um, I would say that I didn't really.
Think about it a lot when I wasyounger.
Honestly, I've only reallystarted to think it, think about
it over the past couple ofyears.
And I would say in middleschool, I definitely started
developing, that sort ofawareness of the gravity of the
situation.
So I, I don't, thankfully Ididn't really have to deal with
(13:59):
that when I was younger.
And obviously there's pros andcons to that because I was more
careless and I'm very lucky thatnothing happened to me.
but as I got older, you know, Isort of noticed things and I
just honestly became moreproactive and protective of my
safety.
and that's, it's been verybeneficial because I haven't, I
haven't had a real allergicreaction since I was, About
(14:20):
eight years old and I'm 19.
So it's been a very long timeand I have multiple severe food
allergies.
So if you're, if you're veryprecautious, while, at the same
time, not inhibiting the way youwant, if you want to live a
normal life, it's doable, youcould, you know, try to avoid
food, allergic reactions.
It's always a possibility.
and that's just something youhave to accept.
(14:42):
but just know that you have youremergency medications and.
And just trust yourself and,and, if you're younger, you
trust your parents as well.
Dr. Whitehouse (14:51):
and of course it's different for everybody,
but it sounds like you havefound what works for you in
terms of balancing, like yousaid, that sense of normalcy and
I can go about my life in theway that I want to and manage
safety.
Do you have any tips on how youdo that or how you feel?
You decide what the balance isand when to, when to skip
something or when to do theexperience that you want to
(15:12):
have.
Dana (15:14):
Yeah.
I just like to establish clearboundaries in my head.
Like for me personally, for likeproducts that say may contain,
Manufactured in the samefacility as manufactured on
shared equipment.
I always stay away from thosejust because, I try to minimize
the risk of having a reactionfor, you know, a reason that,
you know, is so simple like thatwhere it says it on the
(15:36):
packaging.
So I try to avoid things likethat.
I try to avoid, when arestaurant says they can't
guarantee that there won't beany cross contamination, then I
just, I won't eat there.
or even if the restaurant isgiving me, some signals that I
notice are sort of red flags,right off the bat, they're like,
oh, how do you, how do you eatout with those allergies?
Or, ooh, that's gonna be tough,I'm gonna have to ask the chef.
(15:58):
I don't know if we couldAccommodate that, certain things
right off the bat that I noticedthat if I'm getting bad signals,
then I won't eat there, to somepeople, that might seem like an
overreaction, but to me, that'sjust, the risk isn't worth it at
that point.
so I think having those clearboundaries is very helpful right
off the get go.
Um, and just in general, youhave yourself and trusting
(16:19):
yourself and and being trainedand how to use your EpiPen and
knowing you have your, otherallergy medications, Benadryl,
Zyrtec, whatever you take on youis is really important and just
keeping your peace of mind.
Just really trusting yourselfand knowing you do have your
medication has been the biggest,helpful factor for me.
Dr. Whitehouse (16:38):
You're not far removed from those high school
teenage years, what do you thinkkids need at that age?
What do they need in terms ofsupport?
What do they need to be hearing?
Or what are adults maybe notdoing or giving them in terms of
what would help them to adjustwell and to be more confident
about their allergies?
Dana (16:59):
I mean I think just communicating is really
important because everyone'sdifferent everyone has their own
threshold for what they'recomfortable with So just
understanding like if you're aparent understanding your teens
Thresholds for that or even yourchild's is really important and
just instilling a sense of fearin them is so important I think
because I think my dad was alittle, I guess when I was a he
(17:21):
didn't understand the gravity oftelling an eight year old like
Make sure like you're carefulbecause your allergies are
serious and you know, it's it'strue Like it's important for
them to know that but at thesame time You know, kids are so
young and they're immature andthey don't understand that, that
that's like, it's okay becauseyou know, you have your medicine
and you have your teacher andall of that, but you know, you
(17:43):
could scare them.
And I got scared when I waslittle.
So I think maintaining thatbalance is really hard, but
really, really important.
And for teens, I think it'simportant to just communicate
with them because, you know, forme personally, I.
Went to a school that servedlunch and everyone ate lunch at
school and I didn't feelcomfortable with that.
and I wanted to bring my ownlunch and my parents were very
(18:03):
happy to do that cause I didthat middle school as well.
And just things like that, buteveryone's different.
Cause I also knew someone inhigh school who had the same
exact allergies as me, but hewas, eating lunch at school
every day.
Without checking anything andthen he, he seemed to be okay.
So everyone's different withfood allergies.
Everyone has their ownthreshold.
Everyone has their ownsensitivity level for their
allergens.
(18:24):
So I think just communicatingwith both your teen or child And
just, you know, helping themtake the lead when they're a
teen to explain their allergiesto their teachers and, to wait
staff even, it's also reallyhelpful because when I was in
high school, my parents sort ofthe gears a little bit and let
me take the lead.
and just letting my teachersknow like who I am and just in
(18:46):
general, giving me someconfidence and giving me the
skills to just talk to anyoneand everyone like I mentioned
earlier.
if you have your 504 meeting atschool with your teen and
they're in high school, let themknow.
Say a few words on their ownbehalf if they feel comfortable
enough doing so.
I think that's so important and,you know, it lets your teachers,
their teachers know their name.
And I think I definitelyestablished relationships with
(19:09):
every single one of my teachers,and not just really, you know,
instilled a sense of getting toknow my teachers in me that
lasts till today.
I was in college last year andevery, every one of my
professors knew my name, even ifthe lecture was 2000 students,
it was for different reasons.
It wasn't because of my foodallergies is because I made
myself known to them andestablished in a relationship
(19:29):
with them, but I think that's askill that really.
goes with you throughout yourwhole life, even in the
workforce.
So, I think giving them that,that freedom to sort of
establish relationships withtheir, teachers or waitstaff on
their own from, sort of theirteen years is super beneficial
just overall.
Dr. Whitehouse (19:46):
That's such a great point.
I always encourage people to dowhat you said and involve the
kids in the 504 meetings, but Ifind that a lot of times they
aren't.
They aren't involved.
And I think when you do not onlydoes the does it affect how the
child, perceives the situationin terms of, being able to build
that confidence about speakingfor themselves.
But I think it helps all thestaff realize like, Oh, this kid
(20:07):
actually knows a lot about whatthey need and how to keep them
safe.
And I can ask them, they're aresource.
They don't have to just bypassthem and communicate with the
parents all the time.
They know what's going on here.
Dana (20:17):
Yes, definitely.
And then the other thing I willsay that I didn't do throughout
my teen years or childhood was,my parents sending me off on
some sort of business trip.
Program during the summer, somesort of camp, anything.
I know those are, could be quiteexpensive, but if you do have
the opportunity to do so, Iwould, recommend your, your kid,
(20:37):
your teen on one of thoseprograms.
Because prior to college, I hadnever spent any time away from
my parents.
because, you know, because of myfood allergies and they weren't
comfortable with that.
And I think that sort of was,that made the transition
slightly harder for me and, mademe slightly more hesitant
because I had never been awayfrom my parents and I was never
used to someone else.
(20:57):
food for me, like a camp would.
so I think if you have thatopportunity and they're able to
accommodate your child'sallergies, and obviously if your
child feels okay enough to doso, try, try and get them
outside their comfort zone alittle bit.
Try to get them outside yourcomfort zone as well as You
know, a food allergy parent.
I think that's so important andsomething maybe I wish I should
have done.
(21:18):
I could have done when I was,when I was smaller, but you
know, it all, it all worked outin the end for me, but that's
just a tip I would give someoneas a food allergy parent.
Dr. Whitehouse (21:28):
I think it's a great point.
And I wonder, looking back now,obviously we don't know, but is
there anything that you thinkwould have helped make that
easier to do or, Made it seemmore accessible to you as a
kiddo.
Like you're going to go to thiscamp and you're going to spend a
week and they're going to cookyour food for you.
I can see how a lot to a lot offamilies, that's a lot to take
on.
Dana (21:47):
Definitely.
I think either having adedicated allergy friendly camp.
I know there's one in, I want tosay Oregon.
That's like a dedicated allergy,like food allergy friendly camp.
Dr. Whitehouse (21:57):
That's camp blue spruce, right?
Dana (21:59):
Yes,
Dr. Whitehouse (21:59):
Okay.
Dana (22:00):
That one.
Um, either like a camp likethat, that you know that your
child's going to be safe and youhave that, that clarity or
honestly, just sending your kidon a program right next to your
house and allowing them to stayover and just you being a car
ride away would be verybeneficial to you because, you,
the kid, your kid might have abit less anxiety surrounding it,
(22:23):
knowing that you're only a phonecall away a car right away.
would be really helpful.
So I would say one of those twothings, either, a dedicated
allergy friendly camp or justhaving one close to your house
would be beneficial.
It doesn't have to be far away,just as long as they have that
time away from you to sort ofestablish that independence.
while the stakes aren't veryhigh and they're not going off
(22:43):
to college or, into theworkforce or something, and you
do have that, ability to comeand get them and it's not that
big of a deal.
So,
Dr. Whitehouse (22:50):
Right.
There's a little bit of comfortaround it in terms of that, that
leap.
So then how did it go for youwhen it came time for you to
transition?
And it sounds like you.
Freshman year, you just headedoff to college, right?
Dana (23:02):
Yeah.
It was a bit tough.
Um, like at first, I would say,But once I was there, I was
really happy with how I handledit.
And I lived in an apartment myfreshman year.
So I was able to cook formyself.
And that was also a learningcurve in itself, because I
didn't really know how to cook.
but I got a random roommate andI, Was so lucky because she was
the sweetest person ever, andshe never had any of my
(23:23):
allergens in the apartment, andit was amazing, she was so kind,
and again, I was so luckybecause it was random, I think
being in the apartment wasreally helpful, but, again, I
think that was partly because Ihad never know, someone made,
make my own food or had acommunal bathroom or something
like that, where it made thetransition like infinitely
easier for me, but I thinkhaving that experience prior
(23:47):
probably would have made me feelmore comfortable going directly
like into a dorm or somethinglike that.
yeah, but honestly it was agreat experience for me.
So I'm really happy that I hadthat transition period and, I, I
still Was in college takingclasses like everyone else, but
I was in an apartment.
and it was great.
So I'm really happy.
I did that.
Dr. Whitehouse (24:08):
And then you decided this year to transfer
schools, right?
Dana (24:12):
yes, I did.
I actually got Um, the school Igot into Cornell last year, and
it was sort of a A thing where Iwas like, I would like an extra
year because of my foodallergies.
I was able to, to work somethingout and I'm, I'm able to go for
my sophomore year at Cornell,which I'm really happy about.
Dr. Whitehouse (24:29):
I see.
So that was your plan.
You knew you wanted to be there,but you wanted to do a little
bit more gradual instead ofmaking such a fire move and leap
all at once first year.
Dana (24:39):
Yes.
Yeah.
Dr. Whitehouse (24:41):
So what's it going to look like for you this
year?
You're about to head off rightafter we record this interview.
Dana (24:47):
Yeah.
Um, So I'm going to be on a mealplan.
Um, Cornell's rated really highfor, food allergy friendly
dining, which I wasn't aware of,honestly, before, but it's, it's
great.
Were rated.
They have a dedicated, nut freeand gluten free dining hall that
I'll be dining at, uh, from allmy meals.
Um, and I'm not gluten free, so,but I am nut free, so it'll be
(25:10):
good.
that specific dining hall hasextra food allergy training, and
And they serve a couple otherpeople with food allergies,
dedicated meals that they makeahead of time.
So it's a little bit differentthan the traditional, buffet
style.
They make my and a few otherstudents foods ahead of time at
the beginning of the day, andset them aside for you until you
pick them up.
(25:31):
And yeah, Cornell's greatbecause they have everything
labeled in every single dininghall for the top nine allergens.
Also if you have any otherdietary needs, like vegan,
whatever, vegetarian.
but they don't label ifsomething is cross contaminated.
If it's manufactured on sharedequipment as, or on the same,
(25:52):
production line at the actualdining hall in the university.
so it's great if you have verylow sensitivities.
to your allergens, but I takethings very seriously when it
comes to my food allergies.
So I wanted to make sure it wasdedicated, made just for me in a
separate, area of the kitchen orat least a clean one.
I really tried to work with anutritionist and she's been
(26:13):
great in answering all myquestions and I'm very
meticulous when it comes tothings like that.
Dr. Whitehouse (26:17):
Well, that's a lot of good info.
Thank you for sharing, because Ithink you mentioned a lot of
things that people can take asquestions in terms of, the way
you explain that they handlethings at Cornell.
And is this, is this a, Are theycleaning in between, or is this
free of these but made on sharedlines?
I think, sometimes people don'teven know what to ask in terms
of, of sorting out thosedifferences and deciding what
they feel comfortable with.
(26:38):
So you sound like you've got awealth of information to share
that you've, you've collectedalong the way.
Dana (26:44):
Yes, yeah, I've honestly done that more recently in the
past couple years because beforeI really just relied on
ingredient labels and I didn'tfully realize that manufacturers
don't necessarily have todisclose if something's cross
contaminated like made on thesame line As an allergen so i've
made it habit recently tocontact manufacturers just to
(27:04):
double check because I havefound quite a few products that
you know If I hadn't asked theywould have been cross
contaminated with food One of myallergens, if I hadn't asked, so
I've been making that habit likelately.
more recently I outgrew an eggallergy, which was so exciting.
And, I wanted to eat acroissant, for the first time in
quite a while.
(27:24):
Cause I could eat baked eggs fora long time, but I couldn't eat
whole eggs.
I got cleared for whole eggs.
So I wanted to reallyincorporate everything with eggs
back into my diet fully, and Iwanted a croissant.
So there was practically nocroissants that weren't cross
contaminated with like sesamethat I could find and nuts.
So I found this one brand Icontacted them and they and I
(27:48):
told them my allergens and Isaid, do you guys cross
contaminate?
Do you clean your lines?
And they said that they do likethey have shared lines with
other nuts certain products.
So, you know, definitely dodgeda bullet there.
potential cross contamination.
And I just ate the products thatthey said, okay, these should be
safe for you a week.
these aren't cross contaminatedwith anything you listed, so I
(28:09):
was able to see safely eat thoseproducts, so I think it's pretty
important if you if you do havea high sensitivity to contact
manufacturers because theyreally, they don't, they aren't
legally required to label ifsomething's cross contaminated
only if it contains it.
So I would be very careful withthat, especially if you have a
sesame allergy with single typeof bread be very careful unless
(28:30):
they clearly say we are adedicated sesame free facility
because there's so many breadbrands are adding sesame into
their products.
Um, it's literally insane sincethe faster act, it's had sort of
a counter effect, unfortunately.
So it makes it almost impossibleto find bread, but always double
check with manufacturers for.
You know, certain things likethat.
Dr. Whitehouse (28:52):
Yeah, that's a good point.
And I think people who don't, wehave sesame in our house too,
and I don't think people arefamiliar with that change and
how it kind of, you know, how itaffected things down the line.
We just, we just, we have abread maker at home.
It's so much easier than
Dana (29:04):
Oh,
Dr. Whitehouse (29:05):
for all the bread.
Um, that was the, one of thetoughest things that, is out
there to navigate with thatspecific allergen.
Dana (29:12):
absolutely.
Dr. Whitehouse (29:14):
What, do you see in terms of your future of, of
just allergy things?
Do you have goals for growth orhow you want, want that
organization to change or thingsyou want to accomplish with it
while you're trying to managecollege?
Or is that kind of on the backburner right now while you've
got school to navigate?
Dana (29:33):
yeah.
So I'm really lucky.
I have a great leadership team.
I've been able to train a fewmore people to, to help out
while I am at college.
I still want to be, involved inthe magazine, like.
It feels like such a passionproject to me, but I definitely
want to make sure that we'restill going at full speed.
So I was able, we have some moreleadership members, so they'll
be helping me and they've beenamazing so far.
(29:55):
And we've always had thatleadership team in the
background, which has been sogreat and I'm just really happy
that I'm still continuing it,after all these years I'd love
for it to continue to grow and,just continue its charitable,
endeavors and educating peoplewith food allergies, giving them
advice, tips, comfort, anything,or even if people who don't have
food allergies who want tolearn.
(30:17):
So I'm just, I'm just happy tokeep, doing it and being
involved.
Dr. Whitehouse (30:21):
I think it's such a good resource.
I think that teens need to hearfrom other young people about
things.
I think the message comes acrossmuch differently when it's more
of a peer talking than us oldpeople and moms coming at them
with information and things likethat.
So I really feel like you hit ona need that's out there in terms
of a resource for kids.
Dana (30:40):
Thank you.
Yeah, I agree.
I think it's a good resource forpeople, young people with food
allergies and one I would haveloved to had when I was a lot
younger.
so I think just increasingexposure is also a big goal of
mine.
Dr. Whitehouse (30:53):
Can we go back to, the, the whole span of you
growing up and talk a little bitabout the social aspect of
things?
I think, you can tell me if I'mwrong, but I think for a lot of
kids beyond that uncertaintythat you mentioned, that
immediate safety, it's the waythat they have to navigate and
are affected socially by, withtheir allergies that causes a
lot of trouble at that agerange.
(31:14):
Would you agree?
And what do you have to sayabout your own experiences with
that?
Dana (31:19):
Yeah, I would agree.
Um, I was lucky enough to notreally experience much teasing
when it came to my foodallergies.
But there were definitely someinstances, when I was younger
where someone would pick on mefor my food allergies, which,
you know, being older is sobizarre to me.
It doesn't make any sense.
but luckily it wasn't constant.
It wasn't a thing I had toreally worry about.
(31:40):
It was, I just remember like acouple instances of someone like
sticking their food in my faceand being like, Oh, I hope this
doesn't have like.
Not Senate or something.
Or, and, and then another timewhere Someone, I think someone
didn't want me to sit at theirtable or something, and they're
like, Well, I have a peanutbutter sandwich, you can't sit
with us, or something.
Something really rude.
I don't know why kids do that.
(32:01):
It's just kids.
Looking back, it's so insanethat anyone would have, anyone
would ever tease someone withfood allergies for something
that They can't control andlike, should be saying like, Oh,
like, can I help you?
Like, cause it's, it's harder onthe person with food allergies
than it ever would be for, forthe other person.
So it truly doesn't make anysense.
But just like if you're a parentand your child's going through
(32:24):
that, just like be there with,for them.
And I was lucky enough, my momand dad were super supportive
growing up.
And, um, I was able to, um, in aseparate place, uh, like in the
library, which honestly backthen it was so cool.
Like I got to eat in the librarybecause there was like this
little like spot with like highchairs where no one really went
(32:45):
and I got to bring like twofriends with me every time I ate
lunch.
So, um, people would always wantto go because it was like a
secret hideout and they got tobring an extra friend.
so that was super great.
Just communicating with schoolstaff.
If something like that is everhappening is so important and
just being there with a for yourchild and just, affirming them
that.
this isn't their fault and like,they shouldn't feel bad about it
(33:06):
because it's the other personwho should feel bad about it,
not them.
And just like trying to instillin them from a young age that,
other people shouldn't controlthe way you perceive yourself,
it's just you who should do thatand just, if something like that
happens, really use that as alearning opportunity rather than
something where you're justlike, I'm so sorry that
(33:26):
happened.
Just like.
Say, like, affirming that like,this isn't your fault and, don't
let this affect your, the wayyou perceive yourself, because
it absolutely, like, you know,it shouldn't objectively, but of
course, if you're young, itdoes, so, just trying to, to
encourage them to, to feelconfident in themselves, despite
something like that happening,could be really powerful, and
(33:47):
you could transform a reallynegative situation into
something that, might you.
help boost their confidencethroughout their whole life,
when I was younger, I, I reallydidn't think about it that much
because it didn't happen to mevery often, which again, I'm so
lucky about, but, if it had, Ithink just using that as a point
of confidence and like, okay,well, I'm not going to let you
affect me would have been, areally powerful tool, but.
(34:09):
Again, I'm lucky I didn't reallyhave to experience that very
often.
Dr. Whitehouse (34:14):
Yeah.
I'm glad that you didn't.
And I hope, I'd like to thinkthat that's changing, but I
don't know if, do you have asense of that?
Do you think kids are gettingmore used to other kids in
school having allergies andhaving to accommodate and it
being normal or,
Dana (34:27):
I think that it's definitely shifted a bit.
I think also the times arechanging a little bit, which is
so refreshing and, hopefully theeducation around like school
staff and things.
Cause I had some things happento me when I was younger.
Like when I was in,kindergarten, one of my
teachers, Parents, which arelike the PTA parents that,
volunteer for your room, did ablind taste test, for
(34:49):
kindergartners.
Like they could choke you'relike you're blindfolding five
year olds and feeding themthings that's ridiculous.
Who thought of that?
No idea.
so they did that with us andthey gave us M& Ms.
Thank God it was just the normalM& Ms, which, are cross
contaminated with peanuts,
Dr. Whitehouse (35:04):
right?
Dana (35:05):
could have been bad in itself, but they weren't peanut
Ms.
I just, I had no idea what itwas, because I obviously had
never had one, and this littlegirl next to me, I remember her
name, her name was Lindsay, shewas like, M& M, and immediately
I spit it out, which I'm happy Ihad that instinct.
Since I, you know, when I was soyoung.
I knew, I was like, oh my gosh,M& M's, no.
So, thankfully nothing badhappened to me, but, you know,
(35:28):
hopefully the education'sgetting a little better with,
you know, especially teachers,who should know better.
Dr. Whitehouse (35:34):
I hope so that I can imagine because you don't
even know what an M& M tasteslike cause you hadn't had it.
So if she hadn't said that, youwouldn't have even known
necessarily that that's what youwere eating.
Right.
Dana (35:44):
Yes.
Dr. Whitehouse (35:45):
Oh, well, how about as you were older, not
necessarily with, people beingunkind, but.
From the people that you werecloser with, from your, closer
friends and relationships, whatwas your experience about people
helping you and supporting youand how that impacted your
social experience as a teenager?
Dana (36:02):
when I was in high school, as I like, got older, like I
said, I noticed people cared alot less, which was so
refreshing, and like, I just didmy own thing and people didn't
question it, you know, as, itshould be, So it was really
great, I brought my own lunch,even though everyone, ate lunch
at school, and no one cared, noone said anything, no one did a
double take, and it was great,and as I got older, and, and,
(36:25):
post, online school COVID deal,um, I was back at school, and I
was really dreading it, becauseI enjoyed being at home and not
having to, I guess worry about Imean, I didn't really worry
about my allergies, but it wasjust convenient.
I guess, a lot of people my agefelt that way at the time I
think at least the ones I wentto school with they were happy
to just be in bed doing zoomschool But we had to go back and
(36:47):
and I was dreading it a bit andbut I was so lucky I found some
really great friends when I wentback my junior year and they
were Incredibly kind about myfood allergies and they
literally didn't question it andwhen I they were like, okay Dana
go ahead and like explain yourallergies like you go first you
order first and it was amazingUm, they were really kind and
like I went to a few parties myjunior year hosted by like my
(37:07):
really good friend at the timeand it was great and she was so
Kind about my food allergies andI don't know, she would just be
like, Yeah, let me know if youdon't want me to have like nuts
or something.
Something like that.
I think she said, if that'llmake you more comfortable.
It was great.
So just trying to find somereally nice people is important.
Just trying to find some reallygreat friends and, And just
(37:31):
being open to being friends withanyone, because I found, I found
a friend, like, not eventhinking that we would become
such close friends at the time,but it turns out she was so
nice, and, um, were able to, tobe really close, and she was so
supportive about my allergies,so, Just trying to find some
genuinely nice people, whenyou're in high school and middle
school, what have you.
those tend to be the mostunderstanding about food
(37:52):
allergies.
Dr. Whitehouse (37:53):
That's great.
I'm glad.
I think regardless of what theculture of a school is or an
environment, we can alwayschoose, I'm going to stick with
these people.
I'm going to focus on what thisgroup of people, is doing
because this is what matters tome.
So I think that's a good pointtoo.
Dana (38:08):
Yeah.
Dr. Whitehouse (38:10):
What are your goals for yourself for the
future?
what are you going to hopefullydo after you finish up at
Cornell and move into as acareer?
Dana (38:18):
I'm really not sure.
I'm just trying to take thingsday by day.
And that's something I foundreally helpful, especially
someone with food allergies,just not overthinking the
future, is really important.
so I, I'm a big proponentproponent of taking things day
by day in the ambiguity and justreally enjoying how exciting it
is that I don't know what I wantto do tomorrow, I, I'm an
(38:40):
economics major and I reallylove economics.
Economics in itself is such aversatile major, so I'm just
sort of feeling out my optionsand taking things day by day and
not trying to, to set myself onany one particular thing,
because me personally, I'venoticed that that doesn't real
yield the results that, thatare, beneficial to me.
And I noticed that the bestthings tend to happen to me when
(39:02):
I just sort of roll, roll withthings as they come.
Dr. Whitehouse (39:05):
you've had such a focus in your life of this
advocacy piece, and advocatingfor food allergies.
I know that you've helped a lotof people with the resources
that you've been creating.
I'm curious about the impactthat, being a food allergy
advocate has had on you.
Dana (39:22):
I think it's been great.
I, I noticed, uh, I had some,like, orientation type of things
to do, and I am just not afraidto just lead the room, and I
think that that's, leading JustAllergy Things has taught me
that skill, and just, know,especially on zoom, since, most
of just allergy things,leadership work is done over
(39:42):
zoom because we're all over thecountry.
Um, so I think that's been sohelpful to just have that
experience of just leadingpeople.
And just in general, I thinkhaving food allergies really
helps instill a sense ofadvocacy and, being able to talk
to different people in, inanyone who has food allergies.
So I, I think that's been reallygood.
I think it's helped me in manyother.
(40:03):
Parts of my life, in college,I'm able to, establish
relationships with myprofessors, and I, I feel like
that's been really beneficial,and just talking to people, and
I think that's so helpful,because I think, social
awareness, and, and being ableto communicate with other people
is more important than, Thenyour intell your academic
intelligence in so many ways.
(40:24):
And, you could get an internshipby just talking to someone and,
them liking you.
So, I think that's so importantto just have those communication
skills.
And I think anyone with foodallergies who, takes them
seriously and talks to peopleabout them, wait staff and that
type of thing, has those skills.
Already, so I think it's reallygreat.
And it's important to recognizethe positive things that food
(40:46):
allergies give you.
Of course, like, it's verydifficult.
I feel like anyone with foodallergies would rather not have
them.
But, it's always nice torecognize the certain positive
things that have come from it.
Dr. Whitehouse (40:57):
Yeah.
Well, and on that note, I liketo ask everybody, even though
there's lots of hard things,what's something that you do
like or appreciate about havingfood allergies?
Dana (41:06):
I was doing an academic program my first year of college
last year, where the director.
Yeah.
she was very intense and, werescared of her, but she told us,
like, she, she's scared to talkto people on the phone, like,
when she orders, take out orsomething and I was like that
would never occur to me as atrait anyone would have like I
didn't realize that that was athing and like people mention
(41:28):
that they're like to talk on thephone or something like it gives
some anxiety and I And I havenever even thought that that was
a possibility and I think That'sa hundred percent attributed to
food allergies because that'snever been an option.
And that that's honestly like agood thing, a good thing, cause
it's, created these skills.
And I think that that's soimportant.
Just the communication aspects,like I said, can really get you
(41:51):
so far in life.
I think that that's been greatand just knowing how to talk to
people.
And I'm, I'm really great withtalking to adults.
I would say, uh, especially, um,when I was younger, it was more
difficult to.
It was easier to talk to adultscompared to kids, but I'm sort
of start translating the skillsnow since I'm an adult to the
(42:11):
people my own age, and it's beenreally great.
but I think just talking toadults has also gotten me like
really far when I was younger,like I said, I established those
relationships with my teachersand, you know, that's what
helped me, you know.
good grades if I had a question,I knew my teacher was always
there for me and, and thingslike that.
I think it was so important.
And I think communication isdefinitely the most positive,
(42:31):
positive thing that has comefrom my food allergies.
Dr. Whitehouse (42:34):
I can see that so much in interacting with you.
You seem mature beyond youryears in terms of your
interaction skills and yourpresentation.
Like you have so much morepractice and rehearsal with it.
both from your, your foodallergy management and all the
advocacy work that you've beendoing.
That's awesome.
Dana (42:48):
Thank you.
Dr. Whitehouse (42:49):
Is there anything that you wanted to talk
to talk about today that wehaven't gotten to?
Dana (42:55):
do you have any tips as a food allergy therapist and you
know, balancing the fear versusthe, the normalcy,
Dr. Whitehouse (43:04):
yeah, it's such a broad thing, right?
Of having to do that.
I'll say this.
I was just speaking with someoneelse about what I tell my
clients and how it became thename of my podcast.
Don't feed the fear, to thinkabout your actions when you find
yourself in that situation whereyou're deciding, right?
Like, how do I balance this?
Do I, do I, Step out of mycomfort zone and do something
new.
(43:24):
Um, or do I, is this somethingthat I'm not necessarily going
to go for?
I think we always talk insessions with my clients about
not feeding the fear.
You know, think of the fear asthis entity outside of yourself
that is not helpful for you.
Fear is different from.
trusting your instincts orknowing your boundaries and your
limits, but not to take actionsthat feed the fear that enhance
(43:46):
it and make it stronger, right?
So if you have a worry, insteadof ruminating on it and thinking
about it over and over andcoming up with all the worst
case scenarios that helps thefear grow stronger, take action.
Actions, right?
Take action steps to find outthe answer to the question or do
something to prevent that fearfrom happening, which it sounds
like you do a lot of you soundlike you have a very practical
(44:08):
hands on approach where you havecontrol over your environment,
which is what is one of thebiggest things that helps us
with with any of that kind ofstuff is knowing.
Oh, I can just call and ask.
I know how to find out if thisworks for me or if this is safe,
right?
Mhm.
Dana (44:25):
Yeah, definitely.
And you mentioning that justmade me remember something great
about, else that's great aboutfood allergies is just knowing
that Your ability to talk topeople is really just really an
indication of what they're goingto do for you I recently went to
the vet with my parents and theyhad to bring my pet, my dog to
the, to the back.
And, she has a little bit ofseparation anxiety.
(44:47):
So I, my parents were reallyanxious about it.
Cause the, I guess they haveseparation anxiety for my dog
too, in a way.
but I was just trying tocommunicate with like the vet
technician, Yeah, she's older,please, take care of her, if
she, if you notice anything,like, please keep an eye out
because she has some separationanxieties.
I was just trying to talk to himin a very calm and objective way
(45:09):
so that he would want to help merather than Just like my parents
were just freaking out like, canshe stay here?
Can she stay here?
Can she just stay in the roomwith us?
I was just trying to communicateit in the best way possible for
him to want to help me and helpmy dog so I think that having
food allergies is the ultimatetest of that skill And that's
really the way that you get youget what you want Like you call
(45:30):
a customer service line becauseyou don't like a product and you
know You're communicating skillswith them is the determinant of
the call.
So You I think that's theultimate skill.
And that having food allergiesis, is the ultimate test for
that skill.
Dr. Whitehouse (45:45):
You're so right because it's something that we
can be so anxious about, right?
But if you communicate it in ananxious way, you just pass that
on to the people that you'reinteracting with, And then they
either maybe don't feel asconfident about helping you or
they aren't as motivated becausethey're feeling uncomfortable
because your anxiety is spillingout like, you mentioned with
your parents in that scenario.
But if you can do it calmly,that's, that's hard to do when
(46:08):
it's something that's sochallenging.
But the fact that you've learnedto do that so well is so great.
It's so huge for you.
Can you tell everybody, wherethey can find all of the good
stuff that you're putting outthere?
The, the podcast, the magazine,what else do you want people to
find that you're creatingcontent around?
Dana (46:27):
Yeah.
So, the magazine's website isjustologythings.
com.
You could check us out there.
We have all the articles andeverything.
Um, our Instagram is atjustologythings.
Um, and, um, our podcast isjustologythings as well.
So you could find us on everystreaming platform there too.
So yeah, check out the magazine.
We have a lot of resources if,if you want to.
(46:47):
Look at them.
Dr. Whitehouse (46:48):
Thank you so much for taking the time to
talk.
I'm so impressed with all ofyour, that you're doing, I can't
wait to see what your futureholds because you're taking so
many good skills, and qualitiesinto it from all the experiences
you've had so far.
Dana (47:01):
Thank you so much and thank you for having me on.
Dana brought up some greatpoints today.
So here are three action stepsfrom our conversation that you
can put into place right away.
Number one, she made such agreat point about getting your
child involved in any meetingsthat are about managing their
allergies or decisions that needto be made about them.
(47:22):
So getting them involved intheir 504 planning meetings at
school is a great plan.
your child might have anindividualized health plan
instead of a 504, but the ideaapplies for any kind of
accommodations that are beingmade in the school setting.
And often that can be true whenwe need to take steps to protect
our kids in other settings too.
So if they're involved in anactivity or somewhere else that
(47:43):
they're going where someone'scaring for them and you're
having a conversation with theleadership or the staff in order
to help them understand whatyour child needs, It's a great
idea to consider the amount ofinvolvement that might be right
for your child in thatconversation.
Number two, check out all thegreat resources that Dana and
her peers have created.
(48:04):
As she said, the website is JustAllergy Things.
She's on social media under JustAllergy Things, and that's also
the name of their podcast.
That would be especially helpfulif you have Tweens or teens or
even young college students whoare managing allergies.
I think it's really powerful forthem to hear from other kids
instead of just from us adultsall the time.
(48:25):
And number three, with theThanksgiving holiday coming soon
here in the States, Take aminute to step back and observe
your child.
Think about the amazingqualities that they've
developed, the strengths thatthey have, the things that
you're so proud of for themdoing, for managing their
allergies.
And particularly if those arecollege kids who are coming home
(48:47):
for the break, give them anextra squeeze.
Amidst the stress, just take aminute to be thankful and
acknowledge all of the positiveconnections and growth and
strengths that managing theallergies has created for all of
us.
the content of this podcast isfor informational and
(49:07):
educational purposes only, andis not a substitute for
professional medical or mentalhealth advice, diagnosis, or
treatment.
If you have any questions aboutyour own medical experience or
mental health needs, pleaseconsult a professional.
I'm Dr.
Amanda White house.
Thanks for joining me.
And until we chat again,remember don't feed the fear.
Welcome to the Don't Feed the Fear podcast, where we
dive into the complex world offood allergy anxiety.
I'm your host, Dr.
Amanda Whitehouse, food allergyanxiety psychologist and food
allergy mom.
Whether you're dealing withallergies yourself or supporting
someone who is, join us for anempathetic and informative
journey toward food allergy calmand confidence.
(00:22):
Today on the podcast, I'm reallyexcited to bring you another
amazing advocate.
This time, a teenager who'saccomplished so much already in
the years that she's begunworking on this cause.
As a teenager, Dana Rubel hadthe idea to begin a magazine for
teens, written by teens, aboutallergies.
And she named it just AllergyThings.
(00:43):
That expanded into a podcast andnow a whole organization of
teens working together to createawareness and provide support
for each other.
Dana's now a sophomore incollege She was kind enough to
sit down with me and take thetime to talk about starting this
organization in order toadvocate for herself and her
peers, and to share a little bitabout her adjustment through her
(01:03):
teenage years and into collegelife.
Dana, thank you so much forbeing here to talk.
Dana (01:08):
Yes, of course.
Dr. Whitehouse (01:09):
Will you, tell people just a little bit about
you?
You have so much that I want toshare about where should we
start in terms of peopleunderstanding how you got into,
food allergy, advocacy and allthe projects you have on your
table.
Dana (01:23):
I'm Dana I'm currently 19 years old going into my
sophomore year of college, and Iwas diagnosed with a Life
threatening food allergies whenI was one so I've had food
allergies essentially my wholelife, and I don't really know
Anything different so I wasdiagnosed when my parents
decided to give me egg.
(01:43):
And immediately I reacted and Idon't, I don't know the
specifics cause I was one, but Iknow I reacted something GI I
think was hives and vomitingsomething.
And they took me immediately tothe pediatrician and I was super
lucky that the pediatricianimmediately said, let's get her
allergy tested.
so they did some blood work andthey found out I had all these
(02:04):
allergies.
that's sort of how it allstarted, and then, growing up,
that's all I really knew.
I had food allergies, and when Iwas younger, I didn't really
understand the implications verywell, because I guess, when
you're a kid, you don't reallyunderstand the complexities of,
of what's going on, but as I gotolder, I sort of realized how,
how serious it truly was.
So I started to be veryprecautious.
(02:26):
starting when I was about eight,I really consciously, tried to
keep myself safe and likewashing my hands before I eat
things like that.
I got into food allergy advocacywhen I was about.
I want to say 13, 14.
I got involved with FAIR and 13advisory group and all that.
And it was so amazing.
And I eventually started a FAIRtag project.
(02:46):
called Just Allergy Things,which I continue today.
And we've sort of branched outand become, sort of our own
entity in a way.
and we publish articles andpodcasts and I've truly enjoyed
my work for that.
And I started that my sophomoreyear of high school and it just
started as an idea.
And I was like, let me sign upto lead a tag project and start
this.
just has become something waybigger than I ever imagined
(03:09):
today.
And I'm really grateful that I,you know, was able to start that
and that I'm able to continueleading it.
So yeah, that's pretty muchwhere we are today.
Dr. Whitehouse (03:17):
That's great.
So getting involved with FAIRand TAG is the teen advisory
group, right?
and so then it sounds like theyencourage the teens who are
involved to come up with theirown projects and start an
initiative when you have anidea.
That's
Dana (03:31):
So essentially there's this master sheet, or at least
there was when I started whereyou could up to be part of a
project or early a project.
And it's sort of on your owninitiative.
so I had been in tag for acouple of years at that point, I
believe.
So I was like, You know what?
I would really, I would love tolead a tag project.
And I was just sort ofbrainstorming about things.
(03:52):
And, I was always interested inlike magazines and sort of
journalism, that type of thing.
And I was like, wouldn't it becool to start, a teen food
allergy magazine, and that'ssort of how it was born and I
just, came up with the name andthe idea.
had very few people startingoff, but eventually I was able
to recruit people.
And, and as the years went on,people were really excited to
just sign up and be a part of itand things like that.
(04:16):
It's it's been a greatexperience for sure.
Dr. Whitehouse (04:19):
how do you take on a project like that at such a
young age?
That seems like such a bigundertaking.
Dana (04:24):
I don't know.
I was just I always wanted to Todo something like that.
I guess I had no idea of thespecifics.
I went to a high school that waspretty Fairly competitive and
everyone wanted to do likeeveryone was doing amazing
things and I was like wow so Ireally wanted to start something
and I wanted to do something Iwas super passionate about and
it sort of just came out of thisidea of a passion project,
(04:47):
something I truly wanted to doto, to help people and that I
could, you know, feel good aboutdoing, and that's sort of how it
started and it just became thisthing that I do like for now, or
right now that I do, cause,cause I love it.
so it was really great comingout of high school.
It was definitely the thing Idid that I was most proud of and
that truly made me so happy.
(05:07):
So that was just so cool to, tobe able to have that experience.
Dr. Whitehouse (05:11):
That's amazing., so were, you said you were
interested in journalism.
Is that something that you were,considering for the future and
that you are hoping that youmight be getting into, or are
you headed down that road or hasit not really panned out that
specifically?
Dana (05:25):
at the moment, not so much.
I'm interested in economics.
I'm an economics major.
When I was, you know, in like aneighth grade, I did like the
school newspaper and I was superpassionate about that.
And I just really like, youknow, like writing that type of
thing.
I was always interested in likethe history fairs and the
science fairs and the literaryfairs when I was in middle
school.
So, that sort of writing aspect,sort of was always.
(05:48):
in me.
So I wanted to, to do somethingwith that.
And honestly, Justology thingshas transformed into an
organization that encompassesmuch other than just a magazine
side.
I've been able to, exploredifferent things other than,
writing, articles, that type ofjournalism, we've also done like
podcasting, which has been somuch fun.
I've definitely, that's sort ofa passion project of mine as
(06:09):
well.
And, and also just social media.
Now it's more so like managingan organization rather than just
magazine, which is really cool.
So it sort of started as likejournalism and then it sort of
morphed into just this broaderorganization.
Dr. Whitehouse (06:23):
That's how I found you was the podcast.
when I was doing some work formy own podcast and I, it has
been a struggle for me as agrown up adult to learn how to
do this.
And I was so impressed that assuch young kids, you pulled
together that, but, like yousaid, not just a podcast and a
magazine, but this wholeorganization, it seems like such
a good experience for you,carrying forward all that, those
(06:45):
different projects and business.
experiences that you had.
Dana (06:49):
Yeah, thank you.
The podcast, I honestly amsurprised that was able to do so
much at, at 15 because I lookback now and I was like, wow,
that actually took a lot of to,to figure out, just getting the
podcast and like differentstreaming platforms and learning
how to edit a podcast.
And, and things like that.
I never knew how to do.
(07:09):
So it was just a lot ofresearching and trial and error.
And I'm, I'm honestly surprisedmyself that I was able to do
that when I was 15, but I wasjust super passionate and I
wanted, I wanted to, so I didit.
Dr. Whitehouse (07:20):
Yeah.
You sound like you were verymotivated.
Did you have some help with it?
Dana (07:24):
at the beginning, no, no, it's just me.
At the beginning, eventually Iwas able to, to garner a
leadership team.
but at the beginning it was justme and I was trying to motivate
some, some other members to, towrite some articles for me and,
and that type of thing.
So yeah, it was, it was reallygreat just learning how to do
everything from the ground up.
So.
(07:45):
amazing.
Dr. Whitehouse (07:46):
Wow.
I'm, I'm totally amazed,especially, you know, the
quality of what you were puttingout.
you know, obviously your voicesounds young and you shared the
details about your age, but,it's really the, the podcast
episodes that I was able tolisten to are so helpful and
everything that I have seen thatyou've been doing.
Is such quality, content thatyou're putting out and I have to
say I'm biased as a, you know, Ilive in the food allergy world
(08:07):
as a food allergy mom, but I waslike, that makes sense that a
food allergy kiddo, like canpull something like this
together and, and be soindependent and, and
resourceful.
Do you think that's a point?
part of it or am I, am Ireaching with that?
Yeah.
And you
Dana (08:22):
in general has taught me a lot advocacy.
I remember like just hearingabout, a few weeks ago, someone
mentioning that it gives themanxiety to go up to like, You
know, if they join a new gym totalk to the person at the front
desk and ask for a day pass.
And that was really striking tome.
I'm like, wow, people do reallystruggle with things like that.
And I have no fear going up tosomeone random and just saying
(08:45):
like, Hey, I have these foodallergies.
Like, make sure you tell thechef.
Like every, the whole spiel, youknow, the food allergies spiel,
the classic.
Um, and that really translatesto, uh, Translates to every
facet of my life.
Um, and has really helped mejust talk to anyone about
anything, not just my foodallergy.
So that, yeah, that really hastranslated.
And I think that having foodallergies and cells, like a real
(09:07):
sense of resilience andindependence.
And I think that definitelycontributed to, to me starting
the magazine and executing it.
Dr. Whitehouse (09:15):
bring up a good point because I think sometimes,
we can talk more about it, butthere are some hard things about
having food allergies.
Right.
And I think we can forget that,In some ways we've learned
skills and it's made thingseasier or other people have
their own challenges.
It may be, like you said, maybethat person's just shy, but some
other people have anxiety aboutother things.
And I think we can forget like,Oh, that that's hard for them.
(09:37):
That wouldn't have occurred tome that that could be
challenging because it's sosimple for me.
I have to do that all the time.
Dana (09:43):
Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Whitehouse (09:45):
Going back to, that age when you first got
involved, can you talk to meabout what it was like for you
as a kid with allergies who thenwas introduced to this
organization that's advocatingand other kids?
I imagine there were so manyaspects of that that were
helpful for you.
As you were navigating your ownlife,
Dana (10:04):
Yeah, definitely.
It was really a transformativeexperience because I grew up
with being the only person in myclass, in my school with food
allergies.
So it was really, it was, youknow, really eye opening to me
that so many people have thesame, you know, struggles deal
with the same things day to day,and it was hard to grasp that
when I was younger because Ididn't see it.
(10:25):
being part of like the fair likecommunity and, you know, just
the broader food allergyadvocacy community.
I was able to connect withpeople and inform.
relationships, with, you know,my peers who have the same
issues, even though they wereat, different parts of the
country or even the world.
So it was really great.
And it was really, you know,it's a bonding experience
(10:47):
because you, you go through somuch with having food allergies.
I think that was really apositive aspect that I gained
from having food allergies wasjust the community.
Dr. Whitehouse (10:56):
what has been the hardest part of all the
things that you, that we do haveto navigate?
What's been the toughest foryou?
Dana (11:03):
I think it's just the uncertainty.
I.
I am lucky enough to never havehad anaphylaxis, never have had
to use my EpiPen.
So, I think the uncertainty ofjust going day to day, of not
knowing that looks like for me,is really scary.
in the news recently, I've seena lot of things about, you know,
Epinephrine not being 100percent effective or biphasic
(11:26):
reactions, which are likedelayed anaphylactic reactions,
which can result in fatalityhas, you know, it's really been
tough to have to deal with thoserealities.
And, just not having thoseanswers has been difficult.
so I would say that's definitelythe hardest, just the
uncertainty and understandingthe gravity of food allergies
(11:46):
that, if you have severe foodallergies, it has a Potential
being life threatening.
So that's definitely been thehardest.
Dr. Whitehouse (11:53):
Yeah.
I think those, those, extremeand rare, but you know,
obviously very scary stories areone of the hardest parts for all
of us to hear.
how do you kind of process thatwhen you hear something really
awful like that, that's happenedin the news?
Dana (12:07):
I just try to remind myself that, that, that tragic
situation doesn't necessarilyimpact me at this current
moment.
I've lived my life for 19 yearsin a certain way and, know,
learning about something sotragic doesn't necessarily have
to change anything for mepersonally.
Especially since I've been, solucky for the past 19 years to
(12:28):
not have had anaphylaxis oranything like that.
So I just try to myself that inthis present moment, nothing Is
actually gonna change justbecause I, I read something
that, that was tough to read.
So just, just reminding myselfthat, you know, while that's
tragic, and it's so sad thatthat happened for that person, I
can't control, I can't controlit, unfortunately, I can only
(12:48):
control the way I react to it,and, you know, I just choose to,
To stay present and just not letmy mind, you know, start
overthinking things and justremind myself to keep doing what
I'm doing because it's working Ialways have my medication and, I
have my allergist if I have anyquestions and I just try to
remind myself to, to just focuson what I can control and what I
can't.
Dr. Whitehouse (13:09):
I think that's a great point, especially what you
said about this.
It is awful.
It doesn't change anything forme specifically, right?
There's nothing for me to learnfrom this in terms of I was
doing this wrong or I made thismistake.
It's, it's, it doesn't changehow you need to go about your
day to day life.
can you talk about thatuncertainty that you mentioned?
(13:29):
Can you just talk about theimpact of that on your
wellbeing, on your mental andemotional state?
As you've been growing up,
Dana (13:38):
Um, I would say that I didn't really.
Think about it a lot when I wasyounger.
Honestly, I've only reallystarted to think it, think about
it over the past couple ofyears.
And I would say in middleschool, I definitely started
developing, that sort ofawareness of the gravity of the
situation.
So I, I don't, thankfully Ididn't really have to deal with
(13:59):
that when I was younger.
And obviously there's pros andcons to that because I was more
careless and I'm very lucky thatnothing happened to me.
but as I got older, you know, Isort of noticed things and I
just honestly became moreproactive and protective of my
safety.
and that's, it's been verybeneficial because I haven't, I
haven't had a real allergicreaction since I was, About
(14:20):
eight years old and I'm 19.
So it's been a very long timeand I have multiple severe food
allergies.
So if you're, if you're veryprecautious, while, at the same
time, not inhibiting the way youwant, if you want to live a
normal life, it's doable, youcould, you know, try to avoid
food, allergic reactions.
It's always a possibility.
and that's just something youhave to accept.
(14:42):
but just know that you have youremergency medications and.
And just trust yourself and,and, if you're younger, you
trust your parents as well.
Dr. Whitehouse (14:51):
and of course it's different for everybody,
but it sounds like you havefound what works for you in
terms of balancing, like yousaid, that sense of normalcy and
I can go about my life in theway that I want to and manage
safety.
Do you have any tips on how youdo that or how you feel?
You decide what the balance isand when to, when to skip
something or when to do theexperience that you want to
(15:12):
have.
Dana (15:14):
Yeah.
I just like to establish clearboundaries in my head.
Like for me personally, for likeproducts that say may contain,
Manufactured in the samefacility as manufactured on
shared equipment.
I always stay away from thosejust because, I try to minimize
the risk of having a reactionfor, you know, a reason that,
you know, is so simple like thatwhere it says it on the
(15:36):
packaging.
So I try to avoid things likethat.
I try to avoid, when arestaurant says they can't
guarantee that there won't beany cross contamination, then I
just, I won't eat there.
or even if the restaurant isgiving me, some signals that I
notice are sort of red flags,right off the bat, they're like,
oh, how do you, how do you eatout with those allergies?
Or, ooh, that's gonna be tough,I'm gonna have to ask the chef.
(15:58):
I don't know if we couldAccommodate that, certain things
right off the bat that I noticedthat if I'm getting bad signals,
then I won't eat there, to somepeople, that might seem like an
overreaction, but to me, that'sjust, the risk isn't worth it at
that point.
so I think having those clearboundaries is very helpful right
off the get go.
Um, and just in general, youhave yourself and trusting
(16:19):
yourself and and being trainedand how to use your EpiPen and
knowing you have your, otherallergy medications, Benadryl,
Zyrtec, whatever you take on youis is really important and just
keeping your peace of mind.
Just really trusting yourselfand knowing you do have your
medication has been the biggest,helpful factor for me.
Dr. Whitehouse (16:38):
You're not far removed from those high school
teenage years, what do you thinkkids need at that age?
What do they need in terms ofsupport?
What do they need to be hearing?
Or what are adults maybe notdoing or giving them in terms of
what would help them to adjustwell and to be more confident
about their allergies?
Dana (16:59):
I mean I think just communicating is really
important because everyone'sdifferent everyone has their own
threshold for what they'recomfortable with So just
understanding like if you're aparent understanding your teens
Thresholds for that or even yourchild's is really important and
just instilling a sense of fearin them is so important I think
because I think my dad was alittle, I guess when I was a he
(17:21):
didn't understand the gravity oftelling an eight year old like
Make sure like you're carefulbecause your allergies are
serious and you know, it's it'strue Like it's important for
them to know that but at thesame time You know, kids are so
young and they're immature andthey don't understand that, that
that's like, it's okay becauseyou know, you have your medicine
and you have your teacher andall of that, but you know, you
(17:43):
could scare them.
And I got scared when I waslittle.
So I think maintaining thatbalance is really hard, but
really, really important.
And for teens, I think it'simportant to just communicate
with them because, you know, forme personally, I.
Went to a school that servedlunch and everyone ate lunch at
school and I didn't feelcomfortable with that.
and I wanted to bring my ownlunch and my parents were very
(18:03):
happy to do that cause I didthat middle school as well.
And just things like that, buteveryone's different.
Cause I also knew someone inhigh school who had the same
exact allergies as me, but hewas, eating lunch at school
every day.
Without checking anything andthen he, he seemed to be okay.
So everyone's different withfood allergies.
Everyone has their ownthreshold.
Everyone has their ownsensitivity level for their
allergens.
(18:24):
So I think just communicatingwith both your teen or child And
just, you know, helping themtake the lead when they're a
teen to explain their allergiesto their teachers and, to wait
staff even, it's also reallyhelpful because when I was in
high school, my parents sort ofthe gears a little bit and let
me take the lead.
and just letting my teachersknow like who I am and just in
(18:46):
general, giving me someconfidence and giving me the
skills to just talk to anyoneand everyone like I mentioned
earlier.
if you have your 504 meeting atschool with your teen and
they're in high school, let themknow.
Say a few words on their ownbehalf if they feel comfortable
enough doing so.
I think that's so important and,you know, it lets your teachers,
their teachers know their name.
And I think I definitelyestablished relationships with
(19:09):
every single one of my teachers,and not just really, you know,
instilled a sense of getting toknow my teachers in me that
lasts till today.
I was in college last year andevery, every one of my
professors knew my name, even ifthe lecture was 2000 students,
it was for different reasons.
It wasn't because of my foodallergies is because I made
myself known to them andestablished in a relationship
(19:29):
with them, but I think that's askill that really.
goes with you throughout yourwhole life, even in the
workforce.
So, I think giving them that,that freedom to sort of
establish relationships withtheir, teachers or waitstaff on
their own from, sort of theirteen years is super beneficial
just overall.
Dr. Whitehouse (19:46):
That's such a great point.
I always encourage people to dowhat you said and involve the
kids in the 504 meetings, but Ifind that a lot of times they
aren't.
They aren't involved.
And I think when you do not onlydoes the does it affect how the
child, perceives the situationin terms of, being able to build
that confidence about speakingfor themselves.
But I think it helps all thestaff realize like, Oh, this kid
(20:07):
actually knows a lot about whatthey need and how to keep them
safe.
And I can ask them, they're aresource.
They don't have to just bypassthem and communicate with the
parents all the time.
They know what's going on here.
Dana (20:17):
Yes, definitely.
And then the other thing I willsay that I didn't do throughout
my teen years or childhood was,my parents sending me off on
some sort of business trip.
Program during the summer, somesort of camp, anything.
I know those are, could be quiteexpensive, but if you do have
the opportunity to do so, Iwould, recommend your, your kid,
(20:37):
your teen on one of thoseprograms.
Because prior to college, I hadnever spent any time away from
my parents.
because, you know, because of myfood allergies and they weren't
comfortable with that.
And I think that sort of was,that made the transition
slightly harder for me and, mademe slightly more hesitant
because I had never been awayfrom my parents and I was never
used to someone else.
(20:57):
food for me, like a camp would.
so I think if you have thatopportunity and they're able to
accommodate your child'sallergies, and obviously if your
child feels okay enough to doso, try, try and get them
outside their comfort zone alittle bit.
Try to get them outside yourcomfort zone as well as You
know, a food allergy parent.
I think that's so important andsomething maybe I wish I should
have done.
(21:18):
I could have done when I was,when I was smaller, but you
know, it all, it all worked outin the end for me, but that's
just a tip I would give someoneas a food allergy parent.
Dr. Whitehouse (21:28):
I think it's a great point.
And I wonder, looking back now,obviously we don't know, but is
there anything that you thinkwould have helped make that
easier to do or, Made it seemmore accessible to you as a
kiddo.
Like you're going to go to thiscamp and you're going to spend a
week and they're going to cookyour food for you.
I can see how a lot to a lot offamilies, that's a lot to take
on.
Dana (21:47):
Definitely.
I think either having adedicated allergy friendly camp.
I know there's one in, I want tosay Oregon.
That's like a dedicated allergy,like food allergy friendly camp.
Dr. Whitehouse (21:57):
That's camp blue spruce, right?
Dana (21:59):
Yes,
Dr. Whitehouse (21:59):
Okay.
Dana (22:00):
That one.
Um, either like a camp likethat, that you know that your
child's going to be safe and youhave that, that clarity or
honestly, just sending your kidon a program right next to your
house and allowing them to stayover and just you being a car
ride away would be verybeneficial to you because, you,
the kid, your kid might have abit less anxiety surrounding it,
(22:23):
knowing that you're only a phonecall away a car right away.
would be really helpful.
So I would say one of those twothings, either, a dedicated
allergy friendly camp or justhaving one close to your house
would be beneficial.
It doesn't have to be far away,just as long as they have that
time away from you to sort ofestablish that independence.
while the stakes aren't veryhigh and they're not going off
(22:43):
to college or, into theworkforce or something, and you
do have that, ability to comeand get them and it's not that
big of a deal.
So,
Dr. Whitehouse (22:50):
Right.
There's a little bit of comfortaround it in terms of that, that
leap.
So then how did it go for youwhen it came time for you to
transition?
And it sounds like you.
Freshman year, you just headedoff to college, right?
Dana (23:02):
Yeah.
It was a bit tough.
Um, like at first, I would say,But once I was there, I was
really happy with how I handledit.
And I lived in an apartment myfreshman year.
So I was able to cook formyself.
And that was also a learningcurve in itself, because I
didn't really know how to cook.
but I got a random roommate andI, Was so lucky because she was
the sweetest person ever, andshe never had any of my
(23:23):
allergens in the apartment, andit was amazing, she was so kind,
and again, I was so luckybecause it was random, I think
being in the apartment wasreally helpful, but, again, I
think that was partly because Ihad never know, someone made,
make my own food or had acommunal bathroom or something
like that, where it made thetransition like infinitely
easier for me, but I thinkhaving that experience prior
(23:47):
probably would have made me feelmore comfortable going directly
like into a dorm or somethinglike that.
yeah, but honestly it was agreat experience for me.
So I'm really happy that I hadthat transition period and, I, I
still Was in college takingclasses like everyone else, but
I was in an apartment.
and it was great.
So I'm really happy.
I did that.
Dr. Whitehouse (24:08):
And then you decided this year to transfer
schools, right?
Dana (24:12):
yes, I did.
I actually got Um, the school Igot into Cornell last year, and
it was sort of a A thing where Iwas like, I would like an extra
year because of my foodallergies.
I was able to, to work somethingout and I'm, I'm able to go for
my sophomore year at Cornell,which I'm really happy about.
Dr. Whitehouse (24:29):
I see.
So that was your plan.
You knew you wanted to be there,but you wanted to do a little
bit more gradual instead ofmaking such a fire move and leap
all at once first year.
Dana (24:39):
Yes.
Yeah.
Dr. Whitehouse (24:41):
So what's it going to look like for you this
year?
You're about to head off rightafter we record this interview.
Dana (24:47):
Yeah.
Um, So I'm going to be on a mealplan.
Um, Cornell's rated really highfor, food allergy friendly
dining, which I wasn't aware of,honestly, before, but it's, it's
great.
Were rated.
They have a dedicated, nut freeand gluten free dining hall that
I'll be dining at, uh, from allmy meals.
Um, and I'm not gluten free, so,but I am nut free, so it'll be
(25:10):
good.
that specific dining hall hasextra food allergy training, and
And they serve a couple otherpeople with food allergies,
dedicated meals that they makeahead of time.
So it's a little bit differentthan the traditional, buffet
style.
They make my and a few otherstudents foods ahead of time at
the beginning of the day, andset them aside for you until you
pick them up.
(25:31):
And yeah, Cornell's greatbecause they have everything
labeled in every single dininghall for the top nine allergens.
Also if you have any otherdietary needs, like vegan,
whatever, vegetarian.
but they don't label ifsomething is cross contaminated.
If it's manufactured on sharedequipment as, or on the same,
(25:52):
production line at the actualdining hall in the university.
so it's great if you have verylow sensitivities.
to your allergens, but I takethings very seriously when it
comes to my food allergies.
So I wanted to make sure it wasdedicated, made just for me in a
separate, area of the kitchen orat least a clean one.
I really tried to work with anutritionist and she's been
(26:13):
great in answering all myquestions and I'm very
meticulous when it comes tothings like that.
Dr. Whitehouse (26:17):
Well, that's a lot of good info.
Thank you for sharing, because Ithink you mentioned a lot of
things that people can take asquestions in terms of, the way
you explain that they handlethings at Cornell.
And is this, is this a, Are theycleaning in between, or is this
free of these but made on sharedlines?
I think, sometimes people don'teven know what to ask in terms
of, of sorting out thosedifferences and deciding what
they feel comfortable with.
(26:38):
So you sound like you've got awealth of information to share
that you've, you've collectedalong the way.
Dana (26:44):
Yes, yeah, I've honestly done that more recently in the
past couple years because beforeI really just relied on
ingredient labels and I didn'tfully realize that manufacturers
don't necessarily have todisclose if something's cross
contaminated like made on thesame line As an allergen so i've
made it habit recently tocontact manufacturers just to
(27:04):
double check because I havefound quite a few products that
you know If I hadn't asked theywould have been cross
contaminated with food One of myallergens, if I hadn't asked, so
I've been making that habit likelately.
more recently I outgrew an eggallergy, which was so exciting.
And, I wanted to eat acroissant, for the first time in
quite a while.
(27:24):
Cause I could eat baked eggs fora long time, but I couldn't eat
whole eggs.
I got cleared for whole eggs.
So I wanted to reallyincorporate everything with eggs
back into my diet fully, and Iwanted a croissant.
So there was practically nocroissants that weren't cross
contaminated with like sesamethat I could find and nuts.
So I found this one brand Icontacted them and they and I
(27:48):
told them my allergens and Isaid, do you guys cross
contaminate?
Do you clean your lines?
And they said that they do likethey have shared lines with
other nuts certain products.
So, you know, definitely dodgeda bullet there.
potential cross contamination.
And I just ate the products thatthey said, okay, these should be
safe for you a week.
these aren't cross contaminatedwith anything you listed, so I
(28:09):
was able to see safely eat thoseproducts, so I think it's pretty
important if you if you do havea high sensitivity to contact
manufacturers because theyreally, they don't, they aren't
legally required to label ifsomething's cross contaminated
only if it contains it.
So I would be very careful withthat, especially if you have a
sesame allergy with single typeof bread be very careful unless
(28:30):
they clearly say we are adedicated sesame free facility
because there's so many breadbrands are adding sesame into
their products.
Um, it's literally insane sincethe faster act, it's had sort of
a counter effect, unfortunately.
So it makes it almost impossibleto find bread, but always double
check with manufacturers for.
You know, certain things likethat.
Dr. Whitehouse (28:52):
Yeah, that's a good point.
And I think people who don't, wehave sesame in our house too,
and I don't think people arefamiliar with that change and
how it kind of, you know, how itaffected things down the line.
We just, we just, we have abread maker at home.
It's so much easier than
Dana (29:04):
Oh,
Dr. Whitehouse (29:05):
for all the bread.
Um, that was the, one of thetoughest things that, is out
there to navigate with thatspecific allergen.
Dana (29:12):
absolutely.
Dr. Whitehouse (29:14):
What, do you see in terms of your future of, of
just allergy things?
Do you have goals for growth orhow you want, want that
organization to change or thingsyou want to accomplish with it
while you're trying to managecollege?
Or is that kind of on the backburner right now while you've
got school to navigate?
Dana (29:33):
yeah.
So I'm really lucky.
I have a great leadership team.
I've been able to train a fewmore people to, to help out
while I am at college.
I still want to be, involved inthe magazine, like.
It feels like such a passionproject to me, but I definitely
want to make sure that we'restill going at full speed.
So I was able, we have some moreleadership members, so they'll
be helping me and they've beenamazing so far.
(29:55):
And we've always had thatleadership team in the
background, which has been sogreat and I'm just really happy
that I'm still continuing it,after all these years I'd love
for it to continue to grow and,just continue its charitable,
endeavors and educating peoplewith food allergies, giving them
advice, tips, comfort, anything,or even if people who don't have
food allergies who want tolearn.
(30:17):
So I'm just, I'm just happy tokeep, doing it and being
involved.
Dr. Whitehouse (30:21):
I think it's such a good resource.
I think that teens need to hearfrom other young people about
things.
I think the message comes acrossmuch differently when it's more
of a peer talking than us oldpeople and moms coming at them
with information and things likethat.
So I really feel like you hit ona need that's out there in terms
of a resource for kids.
Dana (30:40):
Thank you.
Yeah, I agree.
I think it's a good resource forpeople, young people with food
allergies and one I would haveloved to had when I was a lot
younger.
so I think just increasingexposure is also a big goal of
mine.
Dr. Whitehouse (30:53):
Can we go back to, the, the whole span of you
growing up and talk a little bitabout the social aspect of
things?
I think, you can tell me if I'mwrong, but I think for a lot of
kids beyond that uncertaintythat you mentioned, that
immediate safety, it's the waythat they have to navigate and
are affected socially by, withtheir allergies that causes a
lot of trouble at that agerange.
(31:14):
Would you agree?
And what do you have to sayabout your own experiences with
that?
Dana (31:19):
Yeah, I would agree.
Um, I was lucky enough to notreally experience much teasing
when it came to my foodallergies.
But there were definitely someinstances, when I was younger
where someone would pick on mefor my food allergies, which,
you know, being older is sobizarre to me.
It doesn't make any sense.
but luckily it wasn't constant.
It wasn't a thing I had toreally worry about.
(31:40):
It was, I just remember like acouple instances of someone like
sticking their food in my faceand being like, Oh, I hope this
doesn't have like.
Not Senate or something.
Or, and, and then another timewhere Someone, I think someone
didn't want me to sit at theirtable or something, and they're
like, Well, I have a peanutbutter sandwich, you can't sit
with us, or something.
Something really rude.
I don't know why kids do that.
(32:01):
It's just kids.
Looking back, it's so insanethat anyone would have, anyone
would ever tease someone withfood allergies for something
that They can't control andlike, should be saying like, Oh,
like, can I help you?
Like, cause it's, it's harder onthe person with food allergies
than it ever would be for, forthe other person.
So it truly doesn't make anysense.
But just like if you're a parentand your child's going through
(32:24):
that, just like be there with,for them.
And I was lucky enough, my momand dad were super supportive
growing up.
And, um, I was able to, um, in aseparate place, uh, like in the
library, which honestly backthen it was so cool.
Like I got to eat in the librarybecause there was like this
little like spot with like highchairs where no one really went
(32:45):
and I got to bring like twofriends with me every time I ate
lunch.
So, um, people would always wantto go because it was like a
secret hideout and they got tobring an extra friend.
so that was super great.
Just communicating with schoolstaff.
If something like that is everhappening is so important and
just being there with a for yourchild and just, affirming them
that.
this isn't their fault and like,they shouldn't feel bad about it
(33:06):
because it's the other personwho should feel bad about it,
not them.
And just like trying to instillin them from a young age that,
other people shouldn't controlthe way you perceive yourself,
it's just you who should do thatand just, if something like that
happens, really use that as alearning opportunity rather than
something where you're justlike, I'm so sorry that
(33:26):
happened.
Just like.
Say, like, affirming that like,this isn't your fault and, don't
let this affect your, the wayyou perceive yourself, because
it absolutely, like, you know,it shouldn't objectively, but of
course, if you're young, itdoes, so, just trying to, to
encourage them to, to feelconfident in themselves, despite
something like that happening,could be really powerful, and
(33:47):
you could transform a reallynegative situation into
something that, might you.
help boost their confidencethroughout their whole life,
when I was younger, I, I reallydidn't think about it that much
because it didn't happen to mevery often, which again, I'm so
lucky about, but, if it had, Ithink just using that as a point
of confidence and like, okay,well, I'm not going to let you
affect me would have been, areally powerful tool, but.
(34:09):
Again, I'm lucky I didn't reallyhave to experience that very
often.
Dr. Whitehouse (34:14):
Yeah.
I'm glad that you didn't.
And I hope, I'd like to thinkthat that's changing, but I
don't know if, do you have asense of that?
Do you think kids are gettingmore used to other kids in
school having allergies andhaving to accommodate and it
being normal or,
Dana (34:27):
I think that it's definitely shifted a bit.
I think also the times arechanging a little bit, which is
so refreshing and, hopefully theeducation around like school
staff and things.
Cause I had some things happento me when I was younger.
Like when I was in,kindergarten, one of my
teachers, Parents, which arelike the PTA parents that,
volunteer for your room, did ablind taste test, for
(34:49):
kindergartners.
Like they could choke you'relike you're blindfolding five
year olds and feeding themthings that's ridiculous.
Who thought of that?
No idea.
so they did that with us andthey gave us M& Ms.
Thank God it was just the normalM& Ms, which, are cross
contaminated with peanuts,
Dr. Whitehouse (35:04):
right?
Dana (35:05):
could have been bad in itself, but they weren't peanut
Ms.
I just, I had no idea what itwas, because I obviously had
never had one, and this littlegirl next to me, I remember her
name, her name was Lindsay, shewas like, M& M, and immediately
I spit it out, which I'm happy Ihad that instinct.
Since I, you know, when I was soyoung.
I knew, I was like, oh my gosh,M& M's, no.
So, thankfully nothing badhappened to me, but, you know,
(35:28):
hopefully the education'sgetting a little better with,
you know, especially teachers,who should know better.
Dr. Whitehouse (35:34):
I hope so that I can imagine because you don't
even know what an M& M tasteslike cause you hadn't had it.
So if she hadn't said that, youwouldn't have even known
necessarily that that's what youwere eating.
Right.
Dana (35:44):
Yes.
Dr. Whitehouse (35:45):
Oh, well, how about as you were older, not
necessarily with, people beingunkind, but.
From the people that you werecloser with, from your, closer
friends and relationships, whatwas your experience about people
helping you and supporting youand how that impacted your
social experience as a teenager?
Dana (36:02):
when I was in high school, as I like, got older, like I
said, I noticed people cared alot less, which was so
refreshing, and like, I just didmy own thing and people didn't
question it, you know, as, itshould be, So it was really
great, I brought my own lunch,even though everyone, ate lunch
at school, and no one cared, noone said anything, no one did a
double take, and it was great,and as I got older, and, and,
(36:25):
post, online school COVID deal,um, I was back at school, and I
was really dreading it, becauseI enjoyed being at home and not
having to, I guess worry about Imean, I didn't really worry
about my allergies, but it wasjust convenient.
I guess, a lot of people my agefelt that way at the time I
think at least the ones I wentto school with they were happy
to just be in bed doing zoomschool But we had to go back and
(36:47):
and I was dreading it a bit andbut I was so lucky I found some
really great friends when I wentback my junior year and they
were Incredibly kind about myfood allergies and they
literally didn't question it andwhen I they were like, okay Dana
go ahead and like explain yourallergies like you go first you
order first and it was amazingUm, they were really kind and
like I went to a few parties myjunior year hosted by like my
(37:07):
really good friend at the timeand it was great and she was so
Kind about my food allergies andI don't know, she would just be
like, Yeah, let me know if youdon't want me to have like nuts
or something.
Something like that.
I think she said, if that'llmake you more comfortable.
It was great.
So just trying to find somereally nice people is important.
Just trying to find some reallygreat friends and, And just
(37:31):
being open to being friends withanyone, because I found, I found
a friend, like, not eventhinking that we would become
such close friends at the time,but it turns out she was so
nice, and, um, were able to, tobe really close, and she was so
supportive about my allergies,so, Just trying to find some
genuinely nice people, whenyou're in high school and middle
school, what have you.
those tend to be the mostunderstanding about food
(37:52):
allergies.
Dr. Whitehouse (37:53):
That's great.
I'm glad.
I think regardless of what theculture of a school is or an
environment, we can alwayschoose, I'm going to stick with
these people.
I'm going to focus on what thisgroup of people, is doing
because this is what matters tome.
So I think that's a good pointtoo.
Dana (38:08):
Yeah.
Dr. Whitehouse (38:10):
What are your goals for yourself for the
future?
what are you going to hopefullydo after you finish up at
Cornell and move into as acareer?
Dana (38:18):
I'm really not sure.
I'm just trying to take thingsday by day.
And that's something I foundreally helpful, especially
someone with food allergies,just not overthinking the
future, is really important.
so I, I'm a big proponentproponent of taking things day
by day in the ambiguity and justreally enjoying how exciting it
is that I don't know what I wantto do tomorrow, I, I'm an
(38:40):
economics major and I reallylove economics.
Economics in itself is such aversatile major, so I'm just
sort of feeling out my optionsand taking things day by day and
not trying to, to set myself onany one particular thing,
because me personally, I'venoticed that that doesn't real
yield the results that, thatare, beneficial to me.
And I noticed that the bestthings tend to happen to me when
(39:02):
I just sort of roll, roll withthings as they come.
Dr. Whitehouse (39:05):
you've had such a focus in your life of this
advocacy piece, and advocatingfor food allergies.
I know that you've helped a lotof people with the resources
that you've been creating.
I'm curious about the impactthat, being a food allergy
advocate has had on you.
Dana (39:22):
I think it's been great.
I, I noticed, uh, I had some,like, orientation type of things
to do, and I am just not afraidto just lead the room, and I
think that that's, leading JustAllergy Things has taught me
that skill, and just, know,especially on zoom, since, most
of just allergy things,leadership work is done over
(39:42):
zoom because we're all over thecountry.
Um, so I think that's been sohelpful to just have that
experience of just leadingpeople.
And just in general, I thinkhaving food allergies really
helps instill a sense ofadvocacy and, being able to talk
to different people in, inanyone who has food allergies.
So I, I think that's been reallygood.
I think it's helped me in manyother.
(40:03):
Parts of my life, in college,I'm able to, establish
relationships with myprofessors, and I, I feel like
that's been really beneficial,and just talking to people, and
I think that's so helpful,because I think, social
awareness, and, and being ableto communicate with other people
is more important than, Thenyour intell your academic
intelligence in so many ways.
(40:24):
And, you could get an internshipby just talking to someone and,
them liking you.
So, I think that's so importantto just have those communication
skills.
And I think anyone with foodallergies who, takes them
seriously and talks to peopleabout them, wait staff and that
type of thing, has those skills.
Already, so I think it's reallygreat.
And it's important to recognizethe positive things that food
(40:46):
allergies give you.
Of course, like, it's verydifficult.
I feel like anyone with foodallergies would rather not have
them.
But, it's always nice torecognize the certain positive
things that have come from it.
Dr. Whitehouse (40:57):
Yeah.
Well, and on that note, I liketo ask everybody, even though
there's lots of hard things,what's something that you do
like or appreciate about havingfood allergies?
Dana (41:06):
I was doing an academic program my first year of college
last year, where the director.
Yeah.
she was very intense and, werescared of her, but she told us,
like, she, she's scared to talkto people on the phone, like,
when she orders, take out orsomething and I was like that
would never occur to me as atrait anyone would have like I
didn't realize that that was athing and like people mention
(41:28):
that they're like to talk on thephone or something like it gives
some anxiety and I And I havenever even thought that that was
a possibility and I think That'sa hundred percent attributed to
food allergies because that'snever been an option.
And that that's honestly like agood thing, a good thing, cause
it's, created these skills.
And I think that that's soimportant.
Just the communication aspects,like I said, can really get you
(41:51):
so far in life.
I think that that's been greatand just knowing how to talk to
people.
And I'm, I'm really great withtalking to adults.
I would say, uh, especially, um,when I was younger, it was more
difficult to.
It was easier to talk to adultscompared to kids, but I'm sort
of start translating the skillsnow since I'm an adult to the
(42:11):
people my own age, and it's beenreally great.
but I think just talking toadults has also gotten me like
really far when I was younger,like I said, I established those
relationships with my teachersand, you know, that's what
helped me, you know.
good grades if I had a question,I knew my teacher was always
there for me and, and thingslike that.
I think it was so important.
And I think communication isdefinitely the most positive,
(42:31):
positive thing that has comefrom my food allergies.
Dr. Whitehouse (42:34):
I can see that so much in interacting with you.
You seem mature beyond youryears in terms of your
interaction skills and yourpresentation.
Like you have so much morepractice and rehearsal with it.
both from your, your foodallergy management and all the
advocacy work that you've beendoing.
That's awesome.
Dana (42:48):
Thank you.
Dr. Whitehouse (42:49):
Is there anything that you wanted to talk
to talk about today that wehaven't gotten to?
Dana (42:55):
do you have any tips as a food allergy therapist and you
know, balancing the fear versusthe, the normalcy,
Dr. Whitehouse (43:04):
yeah, it's such a broad thing, right?
Of having to do that.
I'll say this.
I was just speaking with someoneelse about what I tell my
clients and how it became thename of my podcast.
Don't feed the fear, to thinkabout your actions when you find
yourself in that situation whereyou're deciding, right?
Like, how do I balance this?
Do I, do I, Step out of mycomfort zone and do something
new.
(43:24):
Um, or do I, is this somethingthat I'm not necessarily going
to go for?
I think we always talk insessions with my clients about
not feeding the fear.
You know, think of the fear asthis entity outside of yourself
that is not helpful for you.
Fear is different from.
trusting your instincts orknowing your boundaries and your
limits, but not to take actionsthat feed the fear that enhance
(43:46):
it and make it stronger, right?
So if you have a worry, insteadof ruminating on it and thinking
about it over and over andcoming up with all the worst
case scenarios that helps thefear grow stronger, take action.
Actions, right?
Take action steps to find outthe answer to the question or do
something to prevent that fearfrom happening, which it sounds
like you do a lot of you soundlike you have a very practical
(44:08):
hands on approach where you havecontrol over your environment,
which is what is one of thebiggest things that helps us
with with any of that kind ofstuff is knowing.
Oh, I can just call and ask.
I know how to find out if thisworks for me or if this is safe,
right?
Mhm.
Dana (44:25):
Yeah, definitely.
And you mentioning that justmade me remember something great
about, else that's great aboutfood allergies is just knowing
that Your ability to talk topeople is really just really an
indication of what they're goingto do for you I recently went to
the vet with my parents and theyhad to bring my pet, my dog to
the, to the back.
And, she has a little bit ofseparation anxiety.
(44:47):
So I, my parents were reallyanxious about it.
Cause the, I guess they haveseparation anxiety for my dog
too, in a way.
but I was just trying tocommunicate with like the vet
technician, Yeah, she's older,please, take care of her, if
she, if you notice anything,like, please keep an eye out
because she has some separationanxieties.
I was just trying to talk to himin a very calm and objective way
(45:09):
so that he would want to help merather than Just like my parents
were just freaking out like, canshe stay here?
Can she stay here?
Can she just stay in the roomwith us?
I was just trying to communicateit in the best way possible for
him to want to help me and helpmy dog so I think that having
food allergies is the ultimatetest of that skill And that's
really the way that you get youget what you want Like you call
(45:30):
a customer service line becauseyou don't like a product and you
know You're communicating skillswith them is the determinant of
the call.
So You I think that's theultimate skill.
And that having food allergiesis, is the ultimate test for
that skill.
Dr. Whitehouse (45:45):
You're so right because it's something that we
can be so anxious about, right?
But if you communicate it in ananxious way, you just pass that
on to the people that you'reinteracting with, And then they
either maybe don't feel asconfident about helping you or
they aren't as motivated becausethey're feeling uncomfortable
because your anxiety is spillingout like, you mentioned with
your parents in that scenario.
But if you can do it calmly,that's, that's hard to do when
(46:08):
it's something that's sochallenging.
But the fact that you've learnedto do that so well is so great.
It's so huge for you.
Can you tell everybody, wherethey can find all of the good
stuff that you're putting outthere?
The, the podcast, the magazine,what else do you want people to
find that you're creatingcontent around?
Dana (46:27):
Yeah.
So, the magazine's website isjustologythings.
com.
You could check us out there.
We have all the articles andeverything.
Um, our Instagram is atjustologythings.
Um, and, um, our podcast isjustologythings as well.
So you could find us on everystreaming platform there too.
So yeah, check out the magazine.
We have a lot of resources if,if you want to.
(46:47):
Look at them.
Dr. Whitehouse (46:48):
Thank you so much for taking the time to
talk.
I'm so impressed with all ofyour, that you're doing, I can't
wait to see what your futureholds because you're taking so
many good skills, and qualitiesinto it from all the experiences
you've had so far.
Dana (47:01):
Thank you so much and thank you for having me on.
Dana brought up some greatpoints today.
So here are three action stepsfrom our conversation that you
can put into place right away.
Number one, she made such agreat point about getting your
child involved in any meetingsthat are about managing their
allergies or decisions that needto be made about them.
(47:22):
So getting them involved intheir 504 planning meetings at
school is a great plan.
your child might have anindividualized health plan
instead of a 504, but the ideaapplies for any kind of
accommodations that are beingmade in the school setting.
And often that can be true whenwe need to take steps to protect
our kids in other settings too.
So if they're involved in anactivity or somewhere else that
(47:43):
they're going where someone'scaring for them and you're
having a conversation with theleadership or the staff in order
to help them understand whatyour child needs, It's a great
idea to consider the amount ofinvolvement that might be right
for your child in thatconversation.
Number two, check out all thegreat resources that Dana and
her peers have created.
(48:04):
As she said, the website is JustAllergy Things.
She's on social media under JustAllergy Things, and that's also
the name of their podcast.
That would be especially helpfulif you have Tweens or teens or
even young college students whoare managing allergies.
I think it's really powerful forthem to hear from other kids
instead of just from us adultsall the time.
(48:25):
And number three, with theThanksgiving holiday coming soon
here in the States, Take aminute to step back and observe
your child.
Think about the amazingqualities that they've
developed, the strengths thatthey have, the things that
you're so proud of for themdoing, for managing their
allergies.
And particularly if those arecollege kids who are coming home
(48:47):
for the break, give them anextra squeeze.
Amidst the stress, just take aminute to be thankful and
acknowledge all of the positiveconnections and growth and
strengths that managing theallergies has created for all of
us.
the content of this podcast isfor informational and
(49:07):
educational purposes only, andis not a substitute for
professional medical or mentalhealth advice, diagnosis, or
treatment.
If you have any questions aboutyour own medical experience or
mental health needs, pleaseconsult a professional.
I'm Dr.
Amanda White house.
Thanks for joining me.
And until we chat again,remember don't feed the fear.
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